Life Will End/Chapter 4
This is Chapter 4 of Life Will End, entitled'' Calm Before The Storm.'' Chapter 4-Calm Before The Storm Chapter 4 ' ' ' '''Light blinded Mick’s eyes as he stepped into the metallic building, scanning the front room. There were metal chairs, metal desks, and metal walls. Lab tools were enclosed in places such as cabinets and drawers. There was a long staircase up the stairs that lead to a glass room. “Hello.” A man said before the group could take in anymore. The man wore a white lab coat. He had black bushy hair and glasses. He had a friendly smile on his face as if they weren’t in the middle of the apocalypse. He looked to be about a little younger than Joel, who was 44. “Hi…” Mick said awkwardly and carefully as the man kept his smile plastered on his face. He walked towards the group and shook Mick’s hand. “I am Dr. Larry Smith, pleased to meet you.” The man said as he looked at the rest of the group. “Thank you for letting us in.” Mick said after a pause. “No problem, I couldn’t just leave you out there in the dark.” He seemed to glance at Melanie’s stump, but then returned his eyes to Mick. “You’re all very welcome to stay here, There are bedrooms down the hall.” Larry said. “I haven’t had other people here in so long, so I welcome you all with open arms. Come to talk to me if you need me.” He said, and then he looked at them as if asking if they had any questions. “She needs help.” Vlad said, gesturing to Melanie. “Ah yes, I can see that. I’ll see what I can do to stop an infection from starting on her in my medical room. Bring her here.” Larry answered as Vlad helped Melanie up as they followed Larry. “Wait a second! Why are you letting us in so easily?” Jeff said, he was confused just as Zach and Daisy were.” “It’s nice to have new people here with me.” Larry said and smiled. The group couldn’t believe that he was smiling through all of this. “Oh, and one more thing.” Larry said, turning around once more. “Don’t go upstairs.” His smile faded for a moment, but then it returned as he walked down the hall with Vlad and Melanie. Zach glared at Jeff angrily as Jeff and Daisy walked passed him. After that, he couldn’t contain himself anymore, he soon felt a tear rolling down his cheek. His closest friend through this whole thing was dead, all because of Jeff. Mick walked down the hall and opened the first door on the left, and he was amazed to see inside of the room was a neat made bed, a nightstand next to it, a lamp sitting on top of it. This was going to be a good night. Larry ushered Vlad and Melanie into the medical room, Vlad sat down on a chair while Melanie lied on the table. She felt as if her leg was still there, it was weird. “So you got bit?” Larry asked, and Melanie nodded. “Hmmmmm.” Larry said as he looked at Vlad’s worried face. “I’ll have to ask you to step out for now.” Vlad was uneasy about that, he didn’t trust this man yet. “What are you going to do to her?” He asked. “I’ll have to take a blood sample, then I’ll bandage her up more.” Larry replied. “Why a blood sample?” Vlad asked curiously. “I’m a scientist, and even this far in, I still need to study this virus.” Larry replied and smiled. He then got out a needle, looking at Melanie as she took a deep breath. He inserted the needle into her skin, blood filling it up. He release the blood into a glass tube, sealing it up afterwards. “That’ll do for now.” He said to himself. “You sure you’ve got her?” Vlad asked worriedly. “Yes young man, she’ll be fine.” Larry said, giving him a reassuring smile. Vlad reluctantly stepped out as he looked at Melanie one last time before closing the door behind him. He could tell that Larry probably just needed some peace and quiet for him to work good with Melanie. “I’ll bandage you up in a second, just wait for me.” Larry said to Melanie as she nodded. Larry exited the room and brought the tube with the small amount of blood up to the top of the staircase, coming to a huge metal door. He typed in the code and the door slid open as he walked in. Numerous tubes were organized into groups as he put Melanie’s tube in a category marked ’15 Years’. He looked at the huge screen at the end of the room, pressing a button to turn it on. All sorts of cameras in different places in the building were placed, and he watched everyone from the new group that had just came. He flipped to another screen, and this time he sat down at a computer as he added added a number under the 'Blood Samples' category. After it was done, it popped up on the screen. It read ‘Blood Samples: 1009; Cure Compatible Blood Samples: 4 Zach had himself slumped in his room on his soft, warm bed. Everything was overwhelming now, he had just lost his best friend, and now he was on a bed for the first time in so many years. It was almost too much to take in. He felt like crying, but he had to hold it in. He had to stay strong for Angie. His door suddenly opened slowly, and he saw someone standing there that he didn’t expect. It was Daisy. She gave him a smile and looked at him as if to ask if she could come in. He nodded and gave a small smile as she sat on the edge, searching through his drawers until she found a black note book and a working pen. She wrote something down and passed him the notebook. It said ‘I’m sorry about your friend’. “Thanks.” Zach answered sadly. She took the notebook and wrote something else down. ‘I wish I could talk normal’. “I’m so sorry you’re like this, were you like, born this way?” He asked. She wrote something else down after a silent deep breath. ‘No’. “Then how did you get like this?” He asked. She started to write something, but then her expression turned sadder. She stopped writing and ripped the paper out, crumbling it up in her hand and tossing it in the metal garbage can as she walked back out the door, looking at him sadly as she left. Zach was now confused, and he couldn’t keep his curiosity inside now. He had to find out why, maybe Jeff hurt her. Either way, Jeff had to go. Vlad walked down the hall as Mick opened his door, bumping into Vlad. “Hey.” Mick said as Vlad looked up at him. Vlad seemed to not be talking to him lately, and he needed to find out why. “Hi.” Vlad said as Mick sighed. “What’s up with you? You seem mad or something.” Mick said awkwardly. Vlad then gave him a look that Mick knew meant he was mad. “You don’t even know what you did.” Vlad said as he shook his head and kept on walking. “How’s Melanie?!” Mick said in a final attempt to get his attention, but Vlad just ignored him, reaching his own room and slightly slamming the door behind him. “How’re you feeling?” Larry asked as he finished bandaging Melanie correctly. “It feels safer now, but it’s still fucking sucks to not be able to walk.” Melanie said, pouting on the metal table. “Well then I have some good news for you. It happens that I can actually work on making you a prosthetic.” He replied and smiled. “That would be awesome.” Melanie said and smiled back. She was starting to feel at home in this place. No more infected, no more darkness, no more bandits, only safety. But then a question was raised in her mind. “Why is it only you here?” Melanie asked as he stopped smiling. “There was more at a time, now it’s just me. I still have hope left, the others are gone.” Larry replied, looking sad for the first time. Melanie always wanted to believe in hope too, but she didn’t think that there was anyway to stop the virus, but how would she know, she was just a regular computer whiz. “Thanks again.” Melanie smiled at him as his regular smile also returned. He helped her walk to her room as she sat on her bed. She couldn’t believe that she was finally sitting on a real bed, it was like heaven in a hellish world. “Goodnight, Melanie.” Larry said as she returned the goodbye. They both smiled at each other as she shut her light off, trying to go to sleep but her stump prevented that, as the fear of it still overcame her emotions. Larry crept up the stairs again to the same room he was in before, typing in the code on the keypad again. He walked into the room and then it closed behind him. Mick watched him from his door as he went up the stairs, and he knew he had to find out what was up there for the sake of the group He sat down at his desk in his personal office, taking out a clipboard and a pen to examine the blood tests more. He looked to the side where a huge glass container was, covered by some silver sheets, concealing something on the inside of the container. He then looked back down at his desk. No sleep was planned for tonight, it would just be another long night of research. In the morning Mick got out of bed, stretching and yawning as he walked towards his door, opening it slowly. He still couldn’t believe that he was really in this place, and safe and sound. But like on cue, his thoughts drifted to the times when he wasn’t so safe. ''“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!” Mick screamed as he couldn’t watch it anymore. His wife and child weren’t fully devoured yet, but he couldn’t watch anymore. Tears poured from his eyes as he kept running for his life. The last thing he saw of his family was a younger man in a military uniform shooting at the infected currently devouring them, but they were already dead. At least that man tried to help. He sprinted through the city, not even believing what had just happened. He felt like wanting to die after all of this depression through life, something just kept him going. It was the meaning of Regina’s last words. “Stay Alive”. Mick tried to shake off this flashback as he walked out of his room, seeing that the rest of the group was already up, in the big living room eating breakfast. “Nice.” Mick said as he sat down at the table and smiled, ready to eat. He hadn’t eaten a proper meal in ages, so it didn’t take him long to mop his plate clean. He saw Larry chuckle and smile at him. “So how’re you feeling?” Mick asked, shifting his gaze up from his plate and over to Melanie. “Larry bandaged me up pretty good, I’m certainly feeling better.” Melanie said as Larry gave her a thumbs up and his trademark smile. “Well I have some work to do, make your selves at home.” Larry said as he left the room. Mick looked at Jeff and saw a suspicious look on his face. Mick then stood up, hoping to sneak up to where Larry was going. “Oh, come on Mick, do you want to ruin this? We could be kicked out of here if you’re caught!” Vlad said angrily, starting to lose his shit. Mick sighed and sat back down, but of course he wasn’t going to listen, he would just have to follow Larry another time when he was alone. Zach glanced at Daisy, remembering back to their short conversation the previous night. He was still curious as to what her answer would be from his question of why she was mute. But then things were pushed in his favor. “Well, I’ve gotta take a dump on the throne.” Jeff said as he stood up, walking towards the bathroom. Zach quietly gout out of his seat as everyone looked at him weirdly, but he ignored them. When Jeff reached the bathroom away from the others, Zach grabbed his arm. Jeff pulled it away violently as his next tantrum kicked in. “What the fuck?!” He yelled as Zach looked at him angrily. “Listen buddy, you kill my fucking best friend, and now Daisy refuses to tell me why she’s mute. What the fuck is up with that.” Zach said, actually surprised that he was standing up to Jeff this way. “I told you that none of that is your fucking business!” Jeff roared, pushing Zach against the wall with his arm over Zach’s neck, slightly choking him but not forcing it too hard. “W-What are you going to do, kill me l-like Angie.” Zach said as he gasped for air. “Just fucking stay out of my way, kid. Or I swear to god I will murder you.” Jeff said. Zach looked into his eyes and saw that he really did mean a threat. Jeff let him go as Zach gasped for the air that came easier to him. Jeff looked at him angrily one last time, then stepped into the bathroom, sliding the door shut behind him. Larry hadn’t come back down from up the stairs in such a long time. Now was the perfect time for Mick to investigate. He wasn’t around anybody else, so now he could finally snoop around. He grabbed a paper clip off of his nightstand, walking towards his door after. He had the paper clip concealed in his hand. He slowly walked up the stairs, and it was easy because the stairs were metal like almost everything else in the lab. When he got up, he cursed under his breath as he saw that there was a door and a keypad for a code. He sighed, giving up immediately. There was no way he could get in now. But then a camera above the door seemed to move its vision towards him. He cursed again, realizing that he was caught. But to his surprise the door slid open, revealing Larry’s regular smile, but this time it was a little bit more serious. “Mick, I told you to not come up here.” Larry said as he frowned and shook his head. “I’m sorry, I’ll just be leaving now-“ Mick replied, but was cut off when Larry put his hand up, gesturing for him to stop. “Just come in, but do not touch anything.” Larry said as Mick stepped in awkwardly. As soon as he did, Larry seemed to lock his office door. Mick noticed this, but shrugged it off for now. Mick saw all of the glass blood tubes organized in the huge room, and the huge black screen in the center. He was really wondering what it all meant. There were two categories that the blood samples were organized into, but the names of those two categories were covered. “So…What do you do here?” Mick asked as Larry smiled faintly. “I still hold on to my scientific studies. Just because the world ended doesn’t mean I have to stop, does it?” Larry replied. “I guess not.” Mick said as Larry went to go examine one of the tubes on the table. Mick looked at the office door, knowing that there had to be something significant in there. “I have to go do something in the backroom, do not touch anything.” Larry said sternly as he headed to the back room, closing the small door behind him. Mick took this opportunity for the better as he quickly walked to the office door, fumbling with the paper clip to get it into the lock. Through the years of the apocalypse, he had effectively learned how to do things like this, although it would create a lot of noise. After a few more tries, he was unable to successfully get in, but it made a loud noise as he opened it. “Mick?!” Larry yelled from the back room, hearing familiar sound of his office door opening. Mick took his chance and slammed the door shut, barricading it with a metal chair that was at the side of the room. “I told you not to go in there!” Larry yelled as he kicked at the door. Mick thought for a moment, looking around the room. He saw big silver sheet covering something up in one corner of the room, and a desk at the other end. He searched through the desk, throwing stacks of papers to the side. It was now or never. In one of the drawers he found a pistol, already loaded and ready. He then got an idea. He slowly took the metal chair back away from the door. Larry swung the door open with a furious look on his face, but that changed when he saw the pistol barrel pointing straight at his face. “Larry, I won’t have my group stay in this fucking place until you tell me what you’re hiding.” Mick said. “P-Please.” Larry said, scared that he would die here. “Take that sheet off of that thing.” Mick said strictly as he saw the change of expression in Larry’s face. He could tell that there was something under that sheet that he didn’t want others to see. Larry reluctantly walked towards the silver sheet, waiting a few seconds before pulling it off fast. It was a single infected on all fours, like the ones that bit Melanie. It looked like it was a male with dark hair. “What the hell is this?” Mick asked, confused. “I wouldn’t be able to explain, it involves scientific methods and-“ Larry replied, but Mick cut him off. “Cut the shit, what’s going on.” Mick said as he brought the gun closer to Larry’s face. Larry sighed, totally defeated now. “Well, you see, back in the beginning of the apocalypse, the military started to collect people in cities that were bitten. Me and some other advanced scientists started to get their blood samples. We eventually found out a way where a cure was possible, but we needed a certain person’s blood sample to do that. From the first people we found in the city, we found only three blood samples that had blood that was compatible with the possible cure. Two males and one female, and later on we found a fourth, another male. That left only four out of one thousand and thirteen were compatible with the cure. Mick was shocked at all of this, everything was coming at him so fast. “But how does that have to do with this infected?” Mick asked, gesturing to the infected who was clawing at his glass container. “This is Carter, one of the four people who had blood compatible to the cure. The female died right after we got her blood, and the other two males tried to leave, but they eventually died also.” Larry explained slowly. Mick sighed. This was just too much now. But then he looked up at Larry again. “This is all bullshit, it won’t ever work. You’ll never be able to restore humanity after these long years.” Mick said, it was a sad fact but it was true. “The only reason why I let you all in was because I wanted to test you, Mick. Please just let me try.” Larry pleaded. Mick thought for a second, then took a deep breath. “Fine.” He said as Larry gave him a small smile. “Thank you.” Larry replied as Mick lowered the pistol. But after a long silence, Larry put the silver sheet over Carter’s container again. “Guys, you have to come here!” Zach yelled from the lower floor of the lab. Larry and Mick then looked at each other before going down the staircase, seeing that everyone was grouped up. They heard shots coming from outside. “What the fuck is that?!” Vlad yelled as he helped Melanie around. “Quick, come with me!” Larry shouted in a panic. He brought them back upstairs, where he turned on the huge screen as it showed all of the lab security cameras. He focused on the outside one and saw four men. Mick looked at it more closely, recognizing who it was. It was the four bandits from last time. Terrance, Carl, Riley, and the other man. And they were furious, shooting at the huge metal door. “We’ll wait fucking forever!” Terrence shouted at the camera as Mick looked at everyone with a worried face. “It’s them, the bandits from last time.” Mick said worriedly as everyone looked at each other. “Get your weapons ready, we have to take them out.” Mick said as they ran back down the stairs. He was still getting over everything he had just learned from Larry, but that would all have to wait for later. “Oh fuck.” Vlad said as he looked back at the outside camera. “What is it?” Mick asked as he came over to Vlad. “They’ve got a fucking military truck.” Vlad replied as Mick looked at the camera feed. Vlad was right. Mick saw Carl driving the truck, Riley and the other man in the back, with Terrance on the heavy gun up top. The truck seemed to have locked doors at the back end, concealing something inside. “What the fuck do we do?!” Vlad yelled, panicking now. “Get ready.” Mick said as he ran back downstairs, hearing the sounds of the heavy gun tearing the front metal door apart. It was only a matter of time before they got in. End of Chapter 4 Category:Life Will End Category:Issues